Asked by: Anne McLaughlin (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether easements in respect of universal credit introduced in response to the covid-19 outbreak will remain in place for the duration of that outbreak; and what discussions she has had with claimant groups on ensuring that the most vulnerable people are supported during that outbreak.
Answered by Will Quince
Last year, the Department for Work and Pensions introduced a number of easements for Universal Credit claimants, to ensure they could continue to be supported while there were restrictions on face-to-face interaction. Some of these easements are still in place, while others have reverted back to business-as-usual procedures.
Additionally, to provide financial support with essential living costs to vulnerable people and those hardest hit during the COVID 19 outbreak, the Government is delivering an unprecedented package of support, injecting billions into the welfare system. This includes the temporary uplifts to Universal Credit and Working Tax Credits, and boosting Local Housing Allowance by almost £1bn.
DWP provides a range of support to help vulnerable people, especially during the Covid period. Throughout the pandemic, Jobcentres have remained open for anyone who needs face-to-face support and cannot be helped in any other way, which includes all vulnerable claimants, and we have increased the number of work coaches to enable us to continue supporting vulnerable claimants and working with partners to ensure they get the help they need.
DWP regularly meet stakeholders in order to update them on a range of issues and will continue to do so.
Asked by: Anne McLaughlin (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will publish the risk assessments undertaken by her Department in respect of the return to face-to-face appointments in job centres for 18 to 24 year olds.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP takes the safety of colleagues and customers very seriously and all of our offices are COVID secure. We have a suite of Health & Safety risk assessments in place developed following extensive consultation with departmental trade union representatives. These are not specific to any customer group but relate to the safety of everyone who uses a jobcentre and are regularly reviewed, including when services are extended.
These risk assessments cover all of the measures in place to protect staff and publishing them could potentially identify the physical security measures on site, for example, CCTV coverage and therefore put our staff and customers at risk.
Asked by: Anne McLaughlin (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she has taken to ensure companies that have been contracted by her Department to fulfil outsourced work comply with covid-related health and safety regulations.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
All contractors that deliver the Department contracts are required to deliver their contractual obligations in accordance with all applicable law regarding health and safety as a matter of course. We expect all our contractors to comply with current government guidelines to ensure Covid safe working practices as part of that commitment.
In many instances the Department has supported contractors moving to Covid safe working practices by delivering services to participants using digital platforms, where appropriate to do so and in many cases our contractor’s staff have moved to working from home during the height of the pandemic.
We have also collaborated closely with providers to establish procedures for the safe resumption of face to face services where these are necessary, including advice on social distancing requirements, sanitisation, PPE and face coverings
In specific cases the Department has actively worked in consultation with its suppliers to assess Covid related risk in the workplace and identify ways in which the services can be delivered in a safer manner. Specific examples include –
We have also supported providers in meeting and exceeding their obligations under Covid related procedures, for example where Security Officers test positive they are required to self-isolate for 14/10 days and not return to work but still receive their full pay whilst self-isolating.
Unfortunately, the Department cannot attend sites to verify that providers are adhering to Covid safe working practices, as this in itself would breach the same standards.
Asked by: Anne McLaughlin (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the 2013 Care Leaver Strategy, what progress has been made on introducing a care leaver marker in the universal credit system.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department takes seriously the need to support vulnerable claimants, and wants the application process for Universal Credit to be as quick and easy as possible, ensuring that claimants receive money at the earliest opportunity.
Through locally agreed protocols, Jobcentres and local authorities support care leavers transitioning to DWP paid benefits. This helps ensure care leavers are identified promptly and receive the support they need, for example through the advance claim preparation facility.
All Universal Credit claimants, including those who are care leavers, are assigned to a named Work Coach, with whom they can build a trusting relationship. With the permission of the claimant, a Work Coach is able to record, in a free text format, through the use of ‘pinned notes’ in the Universal Credit system, information which supports staff in identifying and managing relevant experiences and circumstances of individual claimants.
Additionally, the Department funds Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland to deliver ‘Help to Claim’ which provides tailored, practical support to people making a
Universal Credit claim and is available across Great Britain. Claimants can access this support through self-referral, or may be directed towards or referred to the service by DWP or other support agencies.
Asked by: Anne McLaughlin (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when she plans to reply to the letter of 26 October 2020 from the hon. Member for Glasgow North East.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department aims to respond to correspondence from hon. Members within 20 working-days of receipt. A response is currently being worked on and should be with the hon. Member shortly.
Asked by: Anne McLaughlin (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the answer of 14 October 2020 on Question 101290 on Pension Credit, how many (a) successful and (b) unsuccessful pension credit claims there were in each of the last 12 months for which data is available.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
This information is only available at disproportionate cost to The Department for Work & Pensions as the Department does not have a business requirement for this information to be retained.
Asked by: Anne McLaughlin (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many pension credit claims there have been since the announcement on introducing means-testing for free TV licences for people aged over 75.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The total number of Pension Credit Claims made since introduction of means testing for free TV licences for people aged over 75 from 1st August 2020 is 29,919.
Extract taken from Weekly Pensions Performance Report on 28th September 2020
Source: Weekly Data from CAM (Customer Account Manager)
Asked by: Anne McLaughlin (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps Department is taking to maximise uptake of pension credit.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
While over 1.5 million pensioners currently receive Pension Credit, the Government wants to make sure that all pensioners eligible can claim the Pension Credit to which they are rightly entitled. That is why in February this year we launched a nationwide campaign to raise awareness of Pension Credit and help dispel some of the misconceptions that people might have about Pension Credit eligibility.
We are also continuing to work with our stakeholders all across the UK, to help spread the key messages from the campaign because we know that often the best ways to reach eligible pensioners is through trusted stakeholders working in the local community. Our online Pension Credit toolkit (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pension-credit-toolkit) has been updated with the recent awareness campaign materials to supplement the resources it already contains for those working with pensioners, such as guides to Pension Credit and information designed to help older people understand how they could get Pension Credit.
In May this year we also launched an online claim service for Pension Credit to supplement the existing telephone and postal claim services (https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit). The new online service enables pensioners to apply for Pension Credit at a time that suits them.
Asked by: Anne McLaughlin (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many pension credit claims there were in each of the last 12 months for which data is available; and what the outcome was of those pension credit claims over that period.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The number of Pension Credit claims received in the last 12 months is shown in table 1 below:
Table 1
Oct-19 | Nov-19 | Dec-19 | Jan-20 | Feb-20 | Mar-20 |
10,645 | 8,318 | 6,615 | 8,540 | 9,574 | 12,557 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Apr-20 | May-20 | Jun-20 | Jul-20 | Aug-20 | Sep-20 |
9,567 | 8,613 | 9,004 | 17,087 | 14,865 | 15,054 |
Extract taken from Weekly Pensions Performance Report on 28th September 2020
Source: Weekly Data from CAM (Customer Account Manager)
The figure includes both successful and unsuccessful Pension Credit claims.
Asked by: Anne McLaughlin (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what provision there is for his Department to sublet property covered by its Prime contract.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Under the PRIME Contract DWP has ability to sublet space that it no longer requires, however DWP always looks first at handing back any surplus space to our accommodation partner Telereal Trillium (TT) utilising the provisions of the Contract to vacate space and reduce running costs. If this is not possible a sublet can be agreed and TT act as our agents in agreeing and managing the sub-let on DWP’s behalf, for which they receive a management fee.